e-Reader Diet

E-reader owners, have you been reading too much, not getting enough exercise? Are the pounds creeping up? Or have the pounds been with you all your life and you are ready to shed them? If any of the above applies, here’s a way to motivate yourself to lose the extra weight and get more active.

About the plan

This is an incentive and rewards plan to help with weight-loss motivation. Rules can be tweaked to individual needs… the rules that follow are guidelines and are NOT set in stone. Some individuals may do better with a behavior-based reward plan, rather than a pounds-lost plan!

ANYONE can follow this kind of plan. Use any eating plan. Moderation, calorie-counting, portion control, low-fat, low-carb, Weight Watchers, any plan you like. All weight-loss requires is a sufficient calorie deficit. A calorie deficit can be achieved by diet, by exercise or by combining both. For exercise, choose any activities you enjoy or are at least, willing to do.

The important thing is to watch what one eats and move more often.

Equally important, a reward should be something that motivates you to earn it.

E-books are ideal small-ticket rewards. They don’t create space clutter and they are reasonably affordable. Better still, once earned, you can have near-instant gratification! But if you own a Kindle or Sony, or other reader or even a reader app on your PC or phone or tablet, it’s OK to play if you like the idea.

Rewards can be other items, perhaps a new CD, DVD, music download or other trinket. Since this plan is based on weekly rewards, rewards should be inexpensive in nature, whatever inexpensive means to you! Rewards do not have to be purchased goods or services at all. For some, a leisurely bath or uninterrupted reading time with Nook might be a great reward. The key thing is that desire to earn the reward motivates behavior change. Long-term goals with correspondingly bigger rewards are a great idea too!

If you are already at a healthy weight… it still works! Maybe you aren’t as active as you’d like. Or maybe you don’t eat your 5-6 servings of fruit and vegetables daily. Tailor your plan and rewards to encourage the behaviors you want to change. MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!

Seven Simple Rules *I* am following

1. Weigh-in is every Monday upon waking up and after a bathroom trip. Record weight.
2. Each weekly loss of a half-pound or more, earns a half-credit of $5. Each weekly loss of a whole pound or more, earns a full-credit of $10.
3. Each week that exercise is performed for a minimum of twenty minutes duration on three separate days of the week earns an exercise credit of $5.
4. Most of the earned credits must be spent on a reward (or rewards), preferably in the same week earned and as soon as feasibly possible. No food rewards are allowed.
5. Credit carryovers: Leftover money from each week’s reward spending may be carried over to add to next week’s earned credits. Each carryover is good for one week only. In order to use the carryover, a further pound credit OR exercise credit must be earned. If no credits are earned the next week, the carryover amount is lost and gone forever.
6. Pound credit is only given for weight loss that reaches a new low weight. In other words, if one week I regain a pound, re-losing that same pound the next week will not earn a credit. Only losing that pound, plus another half-pound or pound will allow reaching a new low and a new credit earned.
7. If progress stops for more than two weeks, I will ask myself if I need a new type of reward as a motivator. Or if still feeling quite motivated, I’ll check my eating behaviors or change up exercise to be more challenging.

Tweaking the Rules

Don’t get crazed… this is not about becoming obsessive compulsive or abusing your body, it’s about giving yourself something as a reward for behavior change! Be kind to yourself! I’ve called it the NOOK Diet because I’m excited about finally owning an e-reader and books are a HUGE motivator for me personally, because I love to read and always have! I’ve also mostly used the library for my reading and only occasionally bought books. So being able to buy a book or two each week is fun and motivating for ME. However, my husband will probably use his credits to buy CDs AND some ebooks.

It’s important to tweak the rules so they work for YOU, provide for achievable & realistic goals and keep you motivated. YOU have to find the reward that motivates YOU!

• So, you hate Monday as a weigh-in day, fine, choose a day you prefer. Just be consistent.
• Hate scales? That’s OK too… base your reward on decreasing girth measurements. You can also base earning a reward on complying 100% with a certain set of behaviors geared towards weight loss, such as keeping your calories at a set amount or WW points at the correct levels or a level of exercise. Or by sticking to a 90/10 or 80/20 compliance plan.
• Money tight? Can’t afford to spend as much as I listed? Also fine… tweak the amounts. Or, go for rewards that don’t cost anything. Money no problem and you need a bigger reward to motivate you, fine, DO that.
• Sounds too easy? Make it harder. There’s nothing that says you have to earn a reward for just three days of exercise a week. You can add more days. Or split an exercise credit between cardio and weight lifting activity. For folks just starting out, the important thing is getting better eating and exercise habits in place, so rewards shouldn’t be too hard to earn at first and I think weekly rewards are a good way to start. Re-evaluate every so often to make sure it’s all working for you.

• I’ve set the sixth rule up to encourage forward progress and keeping the weight off. However, like all the other rules, this is not set in stone. If you lapse badly over a long period of time, and need to use rewards to get you going again, go for it! NEVER GIVE UP!
• The last rule is the check-up rule… as things go along, you may want to make exercise credits a little tougher to earn. Or, if you are having a tough time, you might need to ease up for a while. Be flexible enough to change so that you remain motivated and make progress.

Notes

It may seem a little odd to some that this plan rewards one with books, the reading of which is generally and most often a sedentary activity. Consider though, that those of us who love to read are not likely to give up that pleasure! In that light, an ebook becomes a great reward for a person who loves to read. Hence the exercise portion of the plan! Feel free to tweak that as necessary in order to get more active.

While ALL rules may be tweaked to your benefit, try to avoid tweaking to the extent that you are rewarded for doing very little.

If you base your rewards on pounds lost, be realistic in your expectations. Realize that weight doesn’t always come off in a linear, pound-a-week manner. That’s why the plan allows for credit carryovers and why there is a separate exercise credit available, to keep you going and able to earn at least a small reward each week, even if your body doesn’t entirely co-operate.

NOOK Dieting with a Partner

Social support is a good thing! If you can get family or friends involved, so much the better. This plan can also lend itself to informal competition, for those who need a little extra motivation. In fact, for myself and my husband, I created a competition aspect, on a basis of competing for consistency, rather than how many pounds we could each lose.

Our competition is based on twelve week or quarterly periods. The person who earns the most pound credits (out of a possible 12 credits) at the end of the quarter gets $25 from the other party to spend on their preferred reward strategy. If a tie happens, each person may spend their own $25 on a reward of their choice. However, we’ve also agreed that if the competition aspect becomes stressful or upsetting, we will discontinue it. But meanwhile, it should keep us on our toes and putting forth our best efforts.

We will probably take a short one or two week diet break at the end of each quarter to allow our bodies to reset and recuperate before going for it once more.

We are keeping a basic record in a simple table, rough example below:

Date	Weigh-in	Loss /Gain	Pound Credit	Exercise Credit	Earned $$	Spent $$	Carryover $$
9.13	243.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
9.13	xxx.xx	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
9.20	241.0	-2.8	1	1	$16	$12.58	$3.42
9.20	xxx.xx	-4.3	1	1	$16	$17.11	-$1.11

Hubby’s weight data is not public, hence the x’s. I also maintain a running total of our pound credits earned. We are dead even after our first week. A spreadsheet or Word or Open Office table could also be used for record keeping. Or just a simple notepad. Your choice.

Intermediate Maintenance

The idea here is to simply maintain for a couple weeks after 12 weeks of dieting in order to give the body a bit of rest and recovery from the stress of dieting. Exercise should still happen, but should not be excessive or put undue strain on the body. Mild cardio, moderate weightlifting is OK. If you’ve been losing about a pound weekly via calorie counting, figure that you have 3500 extra calories to “spend” for the week. If you’ve been losing more or less weight, then subtract or add calories accordingly. If you are working by points or portions, the same is true. Add in an extra portions or points as necessary. This is a time to have a treat or two you’ve been missing, but still eat mindfully and mostly on plan.

• You want to stay within +2 pounds of your lowest recorded weight. (This allows for a bit of water retention if you opt to have a sweet or salty treat here and there.) It is possible that you may continue to lose a bit, sometimes the body will release some fat when it is fed a bit more. There’s no penalty for losing, however, remember the main goal is maintenance, rest and recovery during this period. If you continue to lose the first week, you may wish to adjust your eating in hopes of maintaining the second week.
• For maintaining a $5 credit is earned. The exercise credit is set at $5.
• Carryover credit is allowed only if maintenance goals are met.

Adjust as needed for your particular style of eating.

Various e-Reader Diet posts

The Nook Diet

On rewards for weight loss

Focus on the REWARD, not the hunger

In it Together